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[Congressional Bills 114th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 948 Introduced in House (IH)]

114th CONGRESS
  1st Session
                                H. R. 948

 To reduce a portion of the annual pay of Members of Congress for the 
 failure to adopt a concurrent resolution on the budget which does not 
         provide for a balanced budget, and for other purposes.

_______________________________________________________________________

                    IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

                           February 12, 2015

 Mr. Messer (for himself, Mr. Duncan of South Carolina, and Mr. Zinke) 
 introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on 
House Administration, and in addition to the Committees on the Budget, 
    Oversight and Government Reform, and Rules, for a period to be 
subsequently determined by the Speaker, in each case for consideration 
  of such provisions as fall within the jurisdiction of the committee 
                               concerned

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL

 
 To reduce a portion of the annual pay of Members of Congress for the 
 failure to adopt a concurrent resolution on the budget which does not 
         provide for a balanced budget, and for other purposes.

    Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the 
United States of America in Congress assembled,

SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE; FINDINGS.

    (a) Short Title.--This Act may be cited as the ``Balanced Budget 
Accountability Act''.
    (b) Findings.--Congress finds the following:
            (1) The Federal debt exceeds $18,000,000,000,000, continues 
        to grow rapidly, and is larger than the size of the United 
        States economy.
            (2) The Federal budget has shown an annual deficit in 45 of 
        the last 50 years.
            (3) Deficits and the Federal debt threaten to shatter 
        confidence in the Nation's economy, suppress job creation and 
        economic growth, and leave future generations of Americans with 
        a lower standard of living and fewer opportunities.
            (4) It is the duty of Members of Congress to develop and 
        implement policies, including balancing the Federal budget, 
        that encourage robust job creation and economic growth in the 
        United States.
            (5) Members of Congress should be held accountable for 
        failing to pass annual budgets that result in a balanced 
        budget.

SEC. 2. REQUIRING ADOPTION OF BUDGET RESOLUTION PROVIDING FOR BALANCED 
              BUDGETS.

    (a) Adoption of Budget Resolution.--Each House of Congress shall 
adopt a concurrent resolution on the budget for a fiscal year which 
provides that, for each fiscal year for which a budget is provided 
under the resolution (beginning not later than with the budget for 
fiscal year 2025)--
            (1) total outlays do not exceed total receipts; and
            (2) total outlays are not more than 18 percent of the gross 
        domestic product of the United States (as determined by the 
        Bureau of Economic Analysis of the Department of Commerce) for 
        such fiscal year.
    (b) Certification by Congressional Budget Office.--Upon the 
adoption by a House of Congress of a concurrent resolution on the 
budget for a fiscal year, the Director of the Congressional Budget 
Office shall transmit to the Speaker of the House of Representatives or 
the President pro tempore of the Senate (as the case may be) a 
certification as to whether or not that House of Congress has met the 
requirements of subsection (a) with respect to the resolution.
    (c) Effective Date.--This section shall apply with respect to the 
concurrent resolution on the budget for fiscal year 2016 and each 
succeeding fiscal year.

SEC. 3. EFFECT OF FAILURE TO ADOPT RESOLUTION.

    (a) Rule for Fiscal Years 2016 and 2017.--
            (1) Fiscal year 2016.--
                    (A)  Holding salaries in escrow.--If the Director 
                does not certify that a House of Congress has met the 
                requirements of section 2(a) with respect to fiscal 
                year 2016 before April 16, 2015, during the period 
                described in subparagraph (B) the payroll administrator 
                of that House of Congress shall deposit in an escrow 
                account all payments otherwise required to be made 
                during such period for the compensation of Members of 
                Congress who serve in that House of Congress, and shall 
                release such payments to such Members only upon the 
                expiration of such period.
                    (B) Period described.--With respect to a House of 
                Congress, the period described in this subparagraph is 
                the period that begins on April 16, 2015, and ends on 
                the earlier of--
                            (i) the date on which the Director 
                        certifies that the House of Congress has met 
                        the requirements of section 2(a) with respect 
                        to fiscal year 2016; or
                            (ii) the last day of the One Hundred 
                        Fourteenth Congress.
            (2) Fiscal year 2017.--
                    (A)  Holding salaries in escrow.--If the Director 
                does not certify that a House of Congress has met the 
                requirements of section 2(a) with respect to fiscal 
                year 2017 before April 16, 2016, during the period 
                described in subparagraph (B) the payroll administrator 
                of that House of Congress shall deposit in an escrow 
                account all payments otherwise required to be made 
                during such period for the compensation of Members of 
                Congress who serve in that House of Congress, and shall 
                release such payments to such Members only upon the 
                expiration of such period.
                    (B) Period described.--With respect to a House of 
                Congress, the period described in this subparagraph is 
                the period that begins on April 16, 2016, and ends on 
                the earlier of--
                            (i) the date on which the Director 
                        certifies that the House of Congress has met 
                        the requirements of section 2(a) with respect 
                        to fiscal year 2017; or
                            (ii) the last day of the One Hundred 
                        Fourteenth Congress.
            (3) Withholding and remittance of amounts from payments 
        held in escrow.--The payroll administrator shall provide for 
        the same withholding and remittance with respect to a payment 
        deposited in an escrow account under paragraph (1) or (2) that 
        would apply to the payment if the payment were not subject to 
        paragraph (1) or (2).
            (4) Release of amounts at end of the congress.--In order to 
        ensure that this subsection is carried out in a manner that 
        shall not vary the compensation of Senators or Representatives 
        in violation of the twenty-seventh article of amendment to the 
        Constitution of the United States, the payroll administrator of 
        a House of Congress shall release for payments to Members of 
        that House of Congress any amounts remaining in any escrow 
        account under this section on the last day of the One Hundred 
        Fourteenth Congress.
            (5) Role of secretary of the treasury.--The Secretary of 
        the Treasury shall provide the payroll administrators of the 
        Houses of Congress with such assistance as may be necessary to 
        enable the payroll administrators to carry out this subsection.
            (6) Payroll administrator defined.--In this subsection, the 
        ``payroll administrator'' of a House of Congress means--
                    (A) in the case of the House of Representatives, 
                the Chief Administrative Officer of the House of 
                Representatives, or an employee of the Office of the 
                Chief Administrative Officer who is designated by the 
                Chief Administrative Officer to carry out this section; 
                and
                    (B) in the case of the Senate, the Secretary of the 
                Senate, or an employee of the Office of the Secretary 
                of the Senate who is designated by the Secretary to 
                carry out this section.
    (b) Rule for Fiscal Year 2018 and Subsequent Fiscal Years.--If the 
Director of the Congressional Budget Office does not certify that a 
House of Congress has met the requirements of section 2(a) with respect 
to fiscal year 2018, or any fiscal year thereafter, before April 16 of 
the fiscal year before such fiscal year, during pay periods which occur 
in the same calendar year after that date each Member of that House 
shall be paid at an annual rate of pay equal to $1.
    (c) Definitions.--In this section--
            (1) the term ``Director'' means the Director of the 
        Congressional Budget Office; and
            (2) the term ``Member'' includes a Delegate or Resident 
        Commissioner to Congress.

SEC. 4. SUPERMAJORITY REQUIREMENT FOR INCREASING REVENUE.

    (a) In General.--In the Senate and the House of Representatives, a 
bill, joint resolution, amendment, conference report, or amendment 
between the Houses that increases revenue shall only be agreed to upon 
an affirmative vote of three-fifths of the Members of that House of 
Congress duly chosen and sworn.
    (b) Rules of Senate and the House of Representatives.--Subsection 
(a) is enacted by Congress--
            (1) as an exercise of the rulemaking power of the Senate 
        and House of Representatives, respectively, and as such it is 
        deemed a part of the rules of each House, respectively, but 
        applicable only with respect to the procedure to be followed in 
        that House in the case of a bill, joint resolution, amendment, 
        conference report, or amendment between the Houses that 
        increases revenue, and it supersedes other rules only to the 
        extent that it is inconsistent with such rules; and
            (2) with full recognition of the constitutional right of 
        either House to change the rules (so far as relating to the 
        procedure of that House) at any time, in the same manner, and 
        to the same extent as in the case of any other rule of that 
        House.
                                 <all>
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